If you had 10K free and clear what would you do?

reply to post by freedomataprice


What exactly do you hope to achieve by this? Seems you are working to alienate your husband which isn't great. Seems you'll be alone, again not so great. Seems you be "sticking it to the man" but the man really doesn't care. It seems a decision born of some misguided notion that isolation, "off the grid" is a reality that is sooooo much better then what you have, yet I seriously doubt this will be the case. In my experience women do not fair too well in isolation, the consciousness process seems to come to halt in many cases.

There is an oddball documentary called "off the grid" you might want to watch it. Notice how being off the grid simply means an altered version of being on the grid. Notice how folks suffer needlessly, and don't seem any the better for it. Notice how off the grid does not really mean self reliant. The later is the key, most folks think they can be self reliant, seems like a dream, but in reality it is a teeny tiny percentage who can.

If you think you'll grow as a person from it, then go for it, but if the origins of this idea are internet doom and gloom, then I'd say look deeper before you leap.

Eastern Oklahoma--Sallisaw, Tahlequah, Westville, Poteau, Henrietta--look (google) at the real estate listings there for some of the best land buys in the country. Find 2-3 acres with a mountain creek. might even find something with a mobile home or cabin already on it. having an electric line would be nice---summers here get pretty hot.

reply to post by freedomataprice


Thanks, that helps a lot to understand it. My wife and I lived in the city prior to having the ranch, so the door locking thing is more of a habit, than not. The idea of folks just wandering into my home would drive me nuts! At night, we're locked up like Fort Knox. (Rural areas now could always house meth-heads too)...and yep, any late night visitors are likely to see me with a shotgun...

I do know many just like your hubby though. So, you want to put your preps somewhere he isn't going to simply open them up to everyone or donate them, huh? That's cool that at least he'd go along with you doing that (of if he doesn't know, etc. )

Basically, just consider the important stuff. You say you've been off-grid before, so no real worries. I'd recommend your location have:

1) An existing well, or at least a fresh water source
2) Good temperature year round (no real harsh winter)
3) Abundant game
4) Abundant edible plants
5) Be far away from any nuke plant fallout areas (at least 50 miles)
6) Be far away from any major nuclear targets (at least 30 miles)
7) Be away from any major city (but still close enough to SOME civilization for supply runs)
8) Good soil for gardening
9) Lots of trees (to hide you from aerial recon)
10) Access only via one long road

reply to post by freedomataprice


Hey freedomataprice, im currently shopping for acreage in east tennessee, looking for anywhere between 17-30 acres. Maybe we can team up? I plan on moving there full time. Send a pm if interested

Also will be holding cob house workshops on the property next spring/summer, and that's what I will be building to live in as well

reply to post by freedomataprice


I always laugh at these survival/prep threads.

I always wonder why people are so eager to live through such a nightmare scenario and why in the world would anyone want to live life on the other side of an event so terrible that everyone would have to live off the grid?

Who wants to struggle to survive?

# that!!!

Life is not the end all be all.
THere are worse things than physical death.
Struggling to survive and suffering, as well as watching your loved ones suffer needlessly and endlessly, day in and day out with no end in sight is a lot worse than death IMO.

I'll take death any day.
I am not that addicted to life in this miserable rock that I will purposely suffer for the rest of my life just so I can stave off what is inevitable anyway.

You have fun with that.

reply to post by GeneralChaos


It's a valid question.

Who says we'd WANT to struggle to survive though? I like my air conditioning. I like the Internet. I like TV, etc.

But, I also like the security of knowing that my loved ones could still get by if those things went away.

Besides, as I mentioned before, my preps have immediate uses too. Doesn't have to be a SHTF event to realize the benefits. Fresh eggs, fresh veggies, canned meals that can keep for years, but taste like you just made them. These are benefits NOW, not just in a SHTF scenario. I'm not talking about stocking up a bunch of MREs I'll never eat.

But imagine having jars and jars of food stocked, and then losing your job. Certainly makes the money go further, no? Until you find another job. Imagine having oil lamps, and a generator, when a hurricane hits. You've still got light and Air Conditioning, and your fridge is still keeping your food cold.

Prepping isn't just about surviving the end of the world. It's about being ready for a variety of different events, big and small, that can upset your way of life, and about mitigating those disruptions.

Originally posted by GeneralChaos
reply to post by freedomataprice

 

I always laugh at these survival/prep threads.

I always wonder why people are so eager to live through such a nightmare scenario and why in the world would anyone want to live life on the other side of an event so terrible that everyone would have to live off the grid?

Who wants to struggle to survive?

# that!!!

Life is not the end all be all.
THere are worse things than physical death.
Struggling to survive and suffering, as well as watching your loved ones suffer needlessly and endlessly, day in and day out with no end in sight is a lot worse than death IMO.

I'll take death any day.
I am not that addicted to life in this miserable rock that I will purposely suffer for the rest of my life just so I can stave off what is inevitable anyway.

You have fun with that.

When I have lived off grid in the past the only struggle was getting everything in order. i.e. Water, shelter, communication. After that it was wonderful, living and working your own land, knowing that a storm that knocked my neighbors power out did not effect me. That is living for me. Not going to the store to buy bread and milk once or twice a week. But having so much left over to be able to sell to my friends. Many, Many times in the past I have been the one neighbors and friends would come to because I had the things they needed. Most of them thought I was crazy for not having a TV or some other distraction that they felt was necessary in life.
I find my joy in being prepared not waiting on someone or something to come along and help me.

You know the silence that comes when your power goes out? I love that lack of sound.
Seeing children Play in the dirt while learning a sustainable skill. Pure Joy!
Laying in a lawn chair with your children in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere so you can star gaze. Priceless!
There is no need to suffer when going off grid. Life is good.
I have seen death, I have felt death, and I refuse to die in the box our commercialism has put us in. I desire to be free.

I'd pay off debt.

You complain about your husband's lack of enthusiasm for "living off the grid" by posting this complaint on an internet connection and computer.

You're not exactly off the grid yourself.

reply to post by freedomataprice


Buy land. I would. Then you can set up camp, live off the land and use that to train yourself for off grid living. Build a shelter, garden, and make a life like that.

Originally posted by crankyoldman
reply to post by freedomataprice

 

What exactly do you hope to achieve by this? Seems you are working to alienate your husband which isn't great. Seems you'll be alone, again not so great. Seems you be "sticking it to the man" but the man really doesn't care. It seems a decision born of some misguided notion that isolation, "off the grid" is a reality that is sooooo much better then what you have, yet I seriously doubt this will be the case. In my experience women do not fair too well in isolation, the consciousness process seems to come to halt in many cases.

There is an oddball documentary called "off the grid" you might want to watch it. Notice how being off the grid simply means an altered version of being on the grid. Notice how folks suffer needlessly, and don't seem any the better for it. Notice how off the grid does not really mean self reliant. The later is the key, most folks think they can be self reliant, seems like a dream, but in reality it is a teeny tiny percentage who can.

If you think you'll grow as a person from it, then go for it, but if the origins of this idea are internet doom and gloom, then I'd say look deeper before you leap.

I understand what you are saying, but I am in no way trying to alienate my husband. I love him dearly, but I also love myself. I know what I want out of life and I have lived off the grid before. So your statement that women don't do well sounds strange to me. I never said I wanted to go into hiding. I have no desire to "stick it the man"
While I lived off grid in the past I had many friends as I still do.
The only reason I left and sold my first place was to care for my mother who has since passed away.
Building again and getting my hands in the dirt again is healing.
So if you have no ideas that might be helpful, only critical views as to why I shouldn't follow my dreams,, please feel free to move along.

About 5k-6k on an ocean worthy sailboat, another grand on a good dinghy, maybe another grand on extra outboards. The rest on fishing and hunting supplies. Water can be collected, so can food.

Originally posted by babybunnies
You complain about your husband's lack of enthusiasm for "living off the grid" by posting this complaint on an internet connection and computer.

You're not exactly off the grid yourself.

Sorry to sound as if I am complaining. It is not meant that way at all. I have said he and I have different views on some things.

Living off the grid does not mean no internet or computer.

Thanks for the commit.

BTW I am out of debt and have no need or desire to enter into debt. So no need to pay off bills at this time.

reply to post by GeneralChaos

I always laugh at these survival/prep threads. I always wonder why people are so eager to live through such a nightmare scenario and why in the world would anyone want to live life on the other side of an event so terrible that everyone would have to live off the grid? Who wants to struggle to survive?

You'd be surprised. I have lived off-grid before and noticed several amazing changes:

1. Your body clock automatically readjusts to wake up naturally with the rest of nature.
2. Your ego/mind starts to deprogram from all the mass media (internet, phone, tv, chaos)
3. Your intuition begins to grow stronger and can be relied on
4. Health gets better with the fresh air and physical/manual labor required
5. You appreciate the little things.
6. Everything becomes still, zen, peace.....

I would take off the grid any day over fake/artificial living

I haven't read the thread yet, just the OP. I wanted my answer to be uninfluenced.

Look around the Pulaski TN area... there was a lot of undeveloped land going for something like $200 an acre. You'll need about ten acres at least, and make sure you see it before you buy. You want access and preferably a water source (stream or creek) crossing it.

Buy a travel trailer, used, cheap. You'll need some shelter while you build a house, and in case you don't have time to finish the house you can live in the little sardine cans.

Invest in a small portable LP generator. Just enough to get a little power from time to time. Then start looking into solar, possibly water if you got that stream or creek, and wind if you're on top of a mountain.

Get a good supply of gardening tools, building tools, etc.

I'd put up a fence and maybe get some chickens if you'll be around enough to take care of them. That's free eggs and meat, and very little to feed them... farmers will sometimes let you pick up the scraps from their corn fields if you ask nice, and a simple little bug zapper in the pen will help keep them fed too. They can also eat grains... which are simply grass seeds. There's your meat and eggs, and a small garden handles the veggies. Plkant some extra corn for the chickens.

That might eat up the $10K... you still need a lot, but you can survive at that point. My next step would be to have a private well drilled, but that's a few thousand in itself.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by freedomataprice

Originally posted by babybunnies
You complain about your husband's lack of enthusiasm for "living off the grid" by posting this complaint on an internet connection and computer.

You're not exactly off the grid yourself.

Sorry to sound as if I am complaining. It is not meant that way at all. I have said he and I have different views on some things.

Perhaps you could spend some of the 10k on a good professional marriage counselor and maybe come to a compromise.

Originally posted by olaru12

Originally posted by freedomataprice

Originally posted by babybunnies
You complain about your husband's lack of enthusiasm for "living off the grid" by posting this complaint on an internet connection and computer.

You're not exactly off the grid yourself.

Sorry to sound as if I am complaining. It is not meant that way at all. I have said he and I have different views on some things.

Perhaps you could spend some of the 10k on a good professional marriage counselor and maybe come to a compromise.

This is our compromise. We love each other, we want to see each other happy, he has no desire to live long term off the grid. I have no desire to live long term on the grid. We can have the best of both without compromising our love for one another, and if the need ever did arise that my skills and way of living would be NEEDED for him, it would be there. And vise versa.

So to clear things up for you......
My husband and I don't have relationship issues we have lifestyle issues. I would not want a life without him and he feels the same about me.
We have talked about this for some time, he knows I have a strange set of skills that need a release and that our current living situation do not supply that.
I love him for all he is and would never ask him to change, he loves me for who I am and is willing to allow a brief separation while I get setup somewhere so we can have the best of both worlds.
When he and I talk about this it is the understanding that I will be establishing a second home for us. A place for me to use my skills and for us to use as a second home.

reply to post by TheRedneck

a simple little bug zapper in the pen will help keep them fed too

That is a pretty decent idea...I'll have to use that when we add the chickens in the spring.
Not to get too off topic, but do you have a preference of getting full sized chickens vs. getting them as chicks and raising? My wife seems to think it better to get chicks, so they are used to us, but just seems like a waste of time to me to support them while growing.

Originally posted by GeneralChaos
reply to post by freedomataprice

 

I always laugh at these survival/prep threads.

I always wonder why people are so eager to live through such a nightmare scenario and why in the world would anyone want to live life on the other side of an event so terrible that everyone would have to live off the grid?

Who wants to struggle to survive?

# that!!!

Life is not the end all be all.
THere are worse things than physical death.
Struggling to survive and suffering, as well as watching your loved ones suffer needlessly and endlessly, day in and day out with no end in sight is a lot worse than death IMO.

I'll take death any day.
I am not that addicted to life in this miserable rock that I will purposely suffer for the rest of my life just so I can stave off what is inevitable anyway.

You have fun with that.

Some people would be happy being fed, tended, caged, and protected.

Others realize that only in the struggle is there any honor.

reply to post by Gazrok


I prefer chicks. I like to know what they have been feed their entire lives. But that is just a personal preference.